Biennials or perennials; caudex unbranched or with a root crown, often slender. Basal leaves: (petiole often glabrous); blade margins lyrate or lyrate-pinnatifid, terminal lobes distinct, (surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent). Petals (4-)5-5.5(-6) mm. Fruits 1.2-1.5 (-1.8) mm wide; style 0-0.5 mm. 2n = 16, 32.

Flowering Jun-Jul. Gravelly slopes, forests, gravel bars, high-elevation scree and talus, roadsides; 50-2000 m; Alta., B.C., N.W.T., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Wash.; ne Asia.

G. A. Mulligan (1996) treated subsp. kamchatica as a species of Arabis; R. C. Rollins (1993) treated it as a variety of A. lyrata.